Major maintenance has begun on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail as two weather-worn bridges are replaced and foot and bike traffic is diverted around the work areas.
On Monday, city crews began to replace two wooden bridges along the trail, upgrades triggered by the sudden collapse of the bridge at the north end of Westchester Lagoon in 2014.
The Sisson Bridge, at Mile 6.6 of the trail near Kincaid Park, is being torn down first. Next week, crews will start on the Fish Creek Bridge, at Mile 0.5 of the trail just south of Westchester Lagoon.
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Detours will be in place until December as crews work to demolish the wood bridges and erect more sturdy steel replacements. In December 2014, the city released separate engineering analyses that said years of water seeping through poorly designed openings around bolts in the wood was accelerating the pace of decay for the bridges.
The bridge work, funded by voter-approved bond money, is about maintaining what the city already has on the trails, said Maeve Nevins, a city park planner.
Related: Open house to focus on connecting Anchorage's Coastal and Ship Creek trails